Post by Konoi in Dream Savior Gakuen - ReDraw comments

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I've never played the original version, so I have nothing to compare this one to, but what I can say it's that this is a very sweet game, with a very interesting melancholy feeling to it, I've really enjoyed playing it so far!

At this point, I did two endings, both good, but I was wondering if one character could have more than one good ending, or if they all had one good and one bad, or even something different?

The art is not exactly my style, but it's pretty enough and fits the story - it's honestly a matter of tastes here. Though I would suggest you offer the option to play without animations, if you make any updates or for future games - old or very weak computers may slow down because of that, and some players (like me haha XD) can be easily distracted when the sprites move so much. On the other hand, I've really enjoyed the BG art, and the music choices were really nice - really helped in conveying the mood and feelings!

soulsoftea7 years ago

Hi Konoi,

Thanks so much for your indepth comment! So the original was my very first VN, and looking back on it....it had alot of maturing to do. However what worked about it, and made it quite easy to revamp it for today was that it was written with alot of heart. So the core of what DSG was, was always strong and translatable. Yes it always did have a very bittersweet feel to it, and this time around I think I punched that up more so with the use of lighting in the art and especially the music.

Ok so I believe all of the guys have a GOOD and a BEST ending except for possibly Keeves and Jaja. There is no BAD end for any of the guys persay, however you can get a BAD end in that you basically messed up most of your friendships on top of not ending up with anyone at all lol. The JOKE ending (imo is cringey too, so that could be considered a bad end) =p

Just curious what is your style (in terms of the art) and what kind of art style would you have wanted from DSGR? Just curious, I'm always taking in feedback for next time. Also thank you for the great suggestion about the animations. I'm not sure how to do that, but in future I can see about making that an option in the settings menu.

Next VN I'm planning on learning how to make a CG gallery. ^_^

Konoi7 years ago (1 edit)

Yeah, a CG gallery is always nice to have too! Though I'm wondering if I got the best or good endings now haha - I'll have to experiment a bit more with the game! I'd tend to say they were "best" endings, but who knows.

Fun thing is that I wasn't interested in Polar at the beginning, but oh dear after learning the truth about him on the day of the play I was so amazed because I didn't expect that at all haha. I'll HAVE to play his route now, even though I didn't plan on doing it at the beginning.

Honestly, the only character I have trouble with is Jaja. I can't say I DON'T like him, because he makes me smile more often than not, but I have so much trouble understanding what he's saying that it distracts me sometimes. I think it's because english is not my language, so when a character speaks in such a weird way it becomes difficult to me. And while I like playing a character that is pretty young and do routes of (significantly) older characters, I tend to be less interested when it's the opposite. I mean, the age gap isn't really big between them per se in this case, but at Jaja's age it's more significant obviously.

As for the art style, well... I'd say the art used fits the story, but it's not exactly the kind of style I'm fond of, basically haha. I tend to like "thinner" styles, if that makes sense. I think it's rude to show art from other games to compare, so I won't do it, but basically I mean something where characters would look thinner. And I don't mean for them to be less muscular or anything, I'm not talking about the physical attributes of one or another per se, but the overall way of representing things. But as I said, I'm not criticizing the quality of the art or the art style chosen for the game - it's simply not the kind of art I prefer. Now, sometimes I make exceptions too, for very stylized art styles but that's another matter alltogether. So yeah, my style would be something delicate and thin, but I wouldn't say I'd WANT something like that from DSG - I'm an artist myself, so I know very well some people will like your style while others less or not at all - because of that I try to be open minded and usually I can enjoy a story even if the art style doesn't matches my tastes. Of course I would have liked it even more if the art was more like I like it, but that's all.

The only thing I really don't like is when stock sprites are used, because it's hard to really give the characters all the "identity" they deserve. But it isn't the case here so no problem haha

soulsoftea7 years ago

Sorry about the late reply Konoi, I've been on a little relaxing vacay after the stress and hardwork involved in creating a VN.

Haha, honestly the game's script and code was done so long ago that I'm not sure how the choices branch to what endings anymore. I did touch it up, but mainly grammar, spelling and removing some pronouns and old slang.

And totally I get what you mean by "thinner", I think you might mean where the lineart and general illustrations/characters feel more "delicate" if that is the correct term. Tbh I had referenced many diff styles for the characters...for instance Marlain, I was looking at bishounen types in Shoujo Manga, but for Polar I was looking at Bara, Sato I was looking at Free! etc. At the end of the day, I still had to make them all match eachother despite where their initial inspirations were from. That is always a fun challenge. =)

Anyways thanks for enjoying DSGR and I hope to see you around!

Konoi7 years ago

No problem! Hope you had a good and relaxing time!

And yes, you basically understood what I meant, though I like the lineart as it is - I think it's very pretty. Sometimes a style may be thin / delicate, but still have a thick lineart (like in Subarashiki Kono Sekai, for example)

itch.io

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